Billing Events

The Billing system uses the Billing Event Groups to determine when to accrue charges. Event groups identify either a system event (for event-based charges such as handling and initial storage) or a recurring rule (for period-based charges such as anniversary billing or recurring storage) that it then uses to trigger charge accrual.

Billing Events are assigned to the customer contract detail and associated with a rate group to identify how and when charges should be accrued for the customer. The approach you use to configure your event groups will depend on how much your customer contracts and rates differ from each other. If, for example, you provide the same types of services to your customers, you could create a single event group that includes all services. You would then create multiple rate groups, each with a full set of rates for each customer. If, however, your services vary from customer to customer, you may create event groups for each single event so you can re-use the event groups across customer records. Whichever configuration approach you use, make sure that you use the same methodology when you configure your rate group records.

Billing Events include a header record to identify the type of event, and details which describe the charges associated with that event.

Prerequisites

  • Charge Codes

    You assign charge codes to both event records and rate records; the system uses the charge code value to associate an event or recurring rule with a specific rate.

  • Bill To Customers

    For period-based charges, you must specify the recurring rule used to calculate billing dates for the charges.

  • Period

    If you want to use either split billing or grace periods, you'll need to specify the period code to use.

Header Fields

Event Group/ Description
The name and description that identify this Event group.
Event Type
The type of billing event represented by this group:
  • Inbound
  • Outbound
  • Recurring
  • Miscellaneous
  • Multiple Types
  • Period Recurring

Detail Fields

Invoice Type
The invoice type that use the bill information on this detail line. When charges are created, they are assigned an invoice type. During the invoicing process, you must specify which invoice type you are creating: Freight, Inbound, Labor, Miscellaneous Billing, or Recurring. The system then selects charges with the same invoice type. Separate invoice types are used to split out the different types of invoices that are sent to a customer.
Activity
For event-based charges, the WM event that trigger the charge. For recurring charges, leave this field blank.
Charge Code
The charge code that represents the service provided for this event. Whenever the event occurs or period elapses for a customer, the system will look at the customer contract and find the associated rate group to determine how much to charge.
Review Charges
Determines whether charges should be automatically generated. If this flag is selected, the system requires an operator to review the charges before they are invoiced. If this flag is not selected, the system allows charges to be invoiced without any operator input.
Bill To
The Bill To Customer responsible for payment of these charges.
Bill Level
The level at which charges should be billed. Charges can be billed on the following levels:
  • Order Count – A charge is created for each order (quantity is always set to one).
  • Order Level – A charge is created based on the total quantity on the order.
  • Order level using Item Group - A charge is created for each order based on item groups.
  • Order Line Count – A charge is created based on the number of order lines.
  • Quantity Unit Level – A charge is created based on the quantity of each inventory lot code.
  • Item Level – A charge is created based on the quantity of each item.
  • Lot Level – A charge is created based on the quantity of each lot code.
  • Temperature level – charge is created based on the temperature differential between the facility and the inventory being received. This is used for Blast Freezing or temperature sensitive facilities.
  • Truck Load Level – charge is created for the quantity on each truck load.
  • Item Group Level - A charge is created based on the item group.
  • Location Group level Recurring
  • Customer level Recurring
Special Codes
Special codes can change the behavior of charge calculations. The chart below (at the end of this topic) shows the special codes and which ones are valid for each invoice type (IB = Inbound, MB = Miscellaneous Billing, FR = Freight)
Omit Zero Qty
Indicates whether charges should be generated for zero quantity transactions or when a rate cannot be found.
Split/Of Period
Identifies split billing period information. Split billing is used when you accrue charges based on a receipt (inbound) transaction. Split billing allows you to bill different amounts based on the specific day (within a set period) the charge is accrued. To use split billing, you must enter both the percent of the total charge amount as well as the period to use. (The number of days to use for split billing is set on the Period record).

Example of split billing:

  • You create a billing event for storage charges.
  • You enter a 50% split billing percent.
  • You bill on a monthly period.
  • Your period record has the split days set to 15.
  • If a receipt is dated before the 15th, the customer is charged the total amount (based on the rate and quantity).
  • If a receipt is dated after the 15th, the customer is charged 50% of the total amount.
Grace Frequency/ Grace Period
Grace period information. A grace period is a period of time that occurs before the next billing period during which the system ignores charges. To use grace periods, you must enter the frequency (number of days) and Period code. Grace periods are only applicable for initial storage charges.

Example of grace periods:

  • You are billing anniversary charges every month.
  • You set a grace period of 5 days.
  • You process a receipt on 10/28.
  • The next billing period begins on 11/1.

The system will not bill for anniversary charges until the next billing period begins.

From Recurring/To Recurring/Recurring Rule
For Recurring Invoice types, the recurring rule fields are used to trigger charge accrual. You can use the From Recurring and To Recurring fields if you want to set up multiple event records for the same type of charge. For example, you may want to invoice one bill to customer for the first storage charge, and then another for the remaining charges. You would set up two event records with identical information except for the Bill To value and the recurring values. The first record would contain the initial Bill To customer and a From value of 0 and a To value of 1; the second record would contain the standard Bill To customer and a From value of 2 and a To value of 99999999.
Extensibility Rule
The extensibility rule that can be assigned for a period recurring billing event group. The rule returns the charge quantity when the recurring billing job is executed.